Summer is fast approaching, and as a high school senior all you can think is “COLLEGE”. Moving off to college can be a scary thing, and it’s made even scarier because you are moving from being the queen of the senior class at your high school to being a lowly freshman again. You don’t want to hear upperclassmen scoff “freshman” as you walk past, and you certainly want to look like you belong at your new school. What’s a soon-to-be collegiette to do?
Well, good news for you, it’s not how many years you’ve been in school that makes you a freshman. You may be a mere freshman in hours, but you still have the potential to be an upperclassman at heart! “And how does one achieve this status?” you might ask.
Easy. Avoid the “Total Freshman Move,” hereafter referred to as the TFM.
In order to be an upperclassman at heart, you must avoid the TFM at all costs! Here are a couple common TFMs and how to avoid them.
TFM #1: You decide that to be prepared for your first semester at college, you have to get all your ducks in order, so you go to the university bookstore webpage and input all of your classes. You buy each and every one of the books on the list, and have them set to be picked up at the bookstore during the first week of classes.
Friend to friend, you are going to lose so much money this way. So. Much. Go to your first day of classes before you buy any books at all. A lot of the time, books that say that they are required on the bookstore webpage are actually not required at all, and your professors will tell you which ones you’ll actually need. Also, please don’t buy books at the university bookstore. It is so much more expensive. Go to Amazon, Chegg, or any other website, and you’ll likely find the books for far more cheap. Or ask older friends if they’ll lend you the book for a small fee or for free!
TFM #2: You need a way to hold all of these keys, and your TigerCard must be accessible at all times to avoid the awkward wallet shuffle when you reach the front of the line at Chick-fil-a. You decide to use a stylish Auburn lanyard, complete with jingly keys and a card pouch.
If I could tell you one thing about being a freshman, it would be to definitely not wear a lanyard. It may be convenient, and all of your friends might be doing it, but if there were one way for upperclassmen to sniff out a freshman, it would be by the distinctive jingling that comes from those lengthy lanyards. Instead, get a phone case that allows you to carry your TigerCard and a debit card, and stick your keys on a key ring and throw it in your bookbag. Easy as pie, and you’ll definitely look like you belong on campus!
TFM #3: Your alarm goes off on the first day of classes, an hour and a half before you have to leave for your first class. You get out of bed, put on all of your makeup, and throw on your cute new first-day-of-school skirt and a ruffled shirt. The second day, you decide to dress down a little, and you pull out the only collegiate t-shirt you have, the one from orientation, throw on some shorts, and grab your trusty flip flops.
There are a few fashion faux pas in the TFM above. First things first, nobody in college dresses up for the first day of school, and nobody dresses up for any day after. In high school, people dress up for every day of school and judge others if they don’t. But you’re in the real world now, kid- if you wear pajamas to class, people will just be sad that they didn’t wear them too.
Also, please don’t wear your orientation t-shirt. It literally screams, “I am a freshman, and I am exactly like all of the other freshmen.” Get a real college shirt. Show your pride, not your freshiness. Flip flops are also a really bad choice for a walking campus- they will give you blisters without a doubt, and foot bleeding does not an upperclassman make. Choose Chacos instead!
That being said, college is a time to figure out who you really are, and fashion is a part of that. Like I said earlier, people are way less judgy in college than in high school, so wear whatever makes you feel like the fabulous princess you are.
TFM #4: On the first day, you look at your class schedule for your very first semester at college, and find out you have a class in the architecture building, even though you’re a science major. You decide to ask the nearest person if they can direct you to Dudley Hall, or you pull out your campus map that you got at Camp War Eagle and stand in the middle of the concourse trying to figure out where you are and where you’re going.
Y’all, it is the 21st century. Throw out those silly maps, please. Download the Auburn app on to your phone, and when you’re lost on campus grab a bench, pull out your phone and choose where you want to go.
However, the best thing to do for a new kid on campus is to find someone older to show you where all of your classes will be. If you don’t know anyone older, ask your RA to show you around, and the Auburn Christian Student Center normally has tours like that before the semester starts. You should figure out which buildings your classes are in, and if your class is going to be in the Haley Center, pick one way to get to the classroom and never change it!
TFM #5: You go to your first class of the day, holding coffee in one hand and your phone in the other. The professor starts taking roll, and you zone out until you hear your name. But you never do hear your name. You look up, and it’s the wrong professor, and you don’t recognize anyone else in the class! You think about leaving, but it’s too late. So you sit there awkwardly. For an entire class that you’re not even a part of.
This story is unfortunately a true one for me. And it happened my sophomore year, so it proves that the TFM is not limited to freshmen! If you walk into the wrong classroom, get up and leave. Just do it. I know it might be awkward, and people might stare at you as you leave, but it’ll be okay. Strut your bad self out of the classroom, wink at that cute football player sitting in the first row, and move on with your life! Or just sneak out the back and drown your awkwardness in an Icee. Whatever works.
TFM #6: Wow, congrats! You got an A on your first college test ever. You start freaking out, and immediately go to Twitter or Facebook and post an update saying “I got a 93 on my very first college test!” This continues periodically throughout the semester, ending with a screenshot of your final grade roll, captioned with a statement about how hard you worked this semester and how much it all paid off. Your grandparents are so proud!
Please, for the love of Zuckerburg, do not do this. Don’t brag about your grades in general. There’s really nothing good that comes from it- people who did worse than you feel badly, people who did better than you get inflated egos, and others get annoyed. Just call Grammy, tell her how amazing her little sugar plum is, and only tell other students if they ask you specifically how you’ve been doing in the class. You don’t want to seem braggy because you’re doing so amazingly.
Hey, but for real, enjoy your freshman year. If you pull a TFM, it’s not the end of the world. You are a freshman, after all. It’s what you do. College life goes on, and it is so much bigger and better and more wonderful than you can imagine. Make the most of your freshman year, enjoy every second you can, because before you know it, you’ll be a graduating senior looking back and wishing you had the freshman optimism and excitement that goes with moving away from home for the first time. Make your freshman year shine, you beautiful collegiettes!
Have any other tips for avoiding the TFM? Let us know in the comments!